Columns

WILK | In (Self) Defense of Accomodations

By |

Last Wednesday, about Cornell 700 students were sitting in front of screens at around the same time. We were taking the prelim for HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines. Time-slotted within the mosaic of countless other prelims last week, it was joke material. 

The 135 question exam opened and closed in under two hours. And after, I felt a selfish comfort when my roommates looked as shaken by it as I was, but as we were debriefing, a difference dawned on me. Confidence aside, they had at least completed the exam.

Columns

WANG | The Deep Web

By |

About a year ago, a story ran by the Daily Mirror caught my interest. It talked about a “Dark Web”, a sort of black market on the internet that was relatively difficult to access but provided a venue for illegal activity to thrive. This article  illustrated in particular how two British computer sleuths uncovered a Dark Web website that scammed people into paying money for hitmen to assassinate the person of their choice. It sounds ridiculous – like the plot of a movie Liam Neeson would be interested in – but it was true. And perhaps more stunning, it worked: By the time they were caught, the two men had raised over 50,000 pounds in a year, without actually carrying out the work.

Black Students United

Black Students United Demands to Administrators Leaked Onto Reddit Forum

By |

A confidential letter detailing the demands issued by Black Students United to President Elizabeth Garrett and Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student and campus life, was leaked Saturday on a Cornell subreddit. The subreddit, titled “Cornell University Black Students United demands from secret meeting with President Garrett,” includes a scanned copy of the letter. The description of the post reads, “The Cornell Community has a right to know and debate, before decisions are made.”
The letter makes a series of demands, insisting that the administration rename the Cornell Plantations and create mandatory coursework for all students on systems of power and privilege, “centering [on] the voices of oppressed people,” among others. The letter was delivered to the Office of the President at the end of a silent march to Day Hall on Nov. 17.

Columns

MALPASS | Antisocial Media

By |

Once upon a time, I could sit down, focus and hammer out an assignment in no time. Oh, to have those days back.  Now that I’m here at Cornell, doing work feels like pulling teeth more often than not. There are just too many distractions; the TV, easy access to food, my housemates constantly walking into my room unannounced and generally unwelcome. But above all, now that I work almost entirely on a computer, the Internet is just a click away. You know, given the amount of time I spend per day on the computer, you might be surprised to learn how much I hate social media sites.